Destructoid

New Pokémon Snap is a sign of the times in that way, but while it's adapted to the age of Instagram, it hasn't lost its soul in the process. This is the Pokémon Snap you remember, with a few additions that don't always hit as resoundingly, but the foundation has been well-kept.

I don't think Resident Evil Village is going to be very divisive per se: I suspect the reaction will be generally positive. But it's going to definitely spark some conversations as to how it stacks up against the current darling of RE7, and it has a long hill to climb to match its success financially. As for me, I think it complements it quite well, and then some.

Perfect Gold is one such game that did manage to hit paydirt. It’s absolutely solid, and finding a narrative, even in the VN genre, that deserves to be called that can be difficult. The characters are flawed without being annoying, interesting without being archetypal, and the storytelling does a great job of focusing on them. It’s worthwhile if you’re into watching two people in love while figuring themselves out.

Its action gameplay is solid, its world striking, and it’s all brought to players without most of the F2P garbage that usually stands in the way of a game’s true potential.

Returnal is a mostly thrilling sci-fi action romp that suffers from a lack of scale at times. In the moment, I’m completely fixated on my run, upgrading like a fiend, and dashing around for iFrames like I was playing a Capcom game. But after that run ends and I’m looking at the bigger picture, Returnal can feel a little smaller than it actually is. Keep that in mind before you take the pricey plunge.

Shadow Man Remastered is an excellent title that I enjoyed thoroughly. However, it is an excellent twenty-something-year-old title, and some people just can’t go back to that era. I get it. But for the rest of us, this is definitely a title worth pulling back from Deadside.

NieR does have a lot of “fetch” quest design, and while it’s mostly relegated to the side mission variety, it does occasionally bleed over into the critical campaign path. With that in mind, sidequests are sometimes a few of the most fulfilling moments of the game, and there are some real gems in there. From a technical perspective, while I didn’t find any major bugs, I did occasionally come across smaller animation issues. Emphasis on small: the vast majority of my time with it has gone swimmingly.

All in all, I say this is a great game to pick up if you're a fan of the genre. It's endlessly charming, and a real breath of fresh air in terms of its style and gameplay loop. On Spry Fox's website, they claim they "want to make the world a happier place" with games, and I say they have more than achieved that goal.

Rain on Your Parade more or less delivers on what it promises. It's a clever and charming game that's bound to put a big, dumb smile on your face each time you ruin some unsuspecting person's day.

It’s the same thing for the crafting screen (which allows players to create items that are typically found via gameplay like stun mines, but more conveniently on-demand), which is testy at times and requires a firm few mashes to get going. Then there’s jank like occasional jarring music and menu cuts. It’s annoying, but it can be handwaved depending on your tolerance level. There was a rare bug that soft-crashed the game, but that was patched since publication, and we did not experience it in the original build.